This morning I woke up and began my morning routine. I walked to the kitchen, poured a cup of coffee, settled down in my recliner and began reading. I first checked my email, then Facebook, then Twitter. It was then that I settled in for my serious reading.
Every morning I read at least 3 newspapers. I begin with our local paper, which to be honest doesn’t take long. Then I move to the New York Times; later to the Washington Post. I normally end breakfast reading the comics. It’s like dessert! Some mornings, if I have time I finish up with the Wall Street Journal.
Yes, I am a news junkie!
I have this fear that something has happened on the other side of the world that I don’t know about! I am in need of long term serious psychological care!
I have friends, minister friends, that have avoided this malady. In a couple weeks our Preacher Camp group will gather for our annual time together, and every morning someone will come out on the porch and ask, “Anything we need to know about today?”
This morning, somewhere in the midst of the New York Times story about how the war in Ukraine is following the pattern of World War II I had the thought, “Why do I need to know this?”
Why do I need to know that soldiers are taking refuge in bunkers built by the Germans, complete with fading swatiskas on the walls? I can’t do anything about that!
I can’t do anything about the fact that temperatures are setting records nearly everyday. My former secretary moved to Phoenix to be near her grandchildren, and today they will experience their 19th day of temperatures over 110!
I can’t do anything about the ongoing crisis in our democracy as a current legislator from Georgia seems to be against moves to improve education, healthcare, and a host of programs that have revolutionized our lives. I can’t vote against her!
I have no idea why I need to care about whether or not the Angels are going to trade Shohei Ohtani. To be honest I haven’t watched a full MLB game since the strike in 94! (I can hold a grudge!)
If I can’t do anything about any of these, nor a host of other “news” stories, why should I know? Why should I care?
I am sure that my mental health would be better off not knowing. I wouldn’t be worried about rising sea levels, war news, healthcare crisis which are spreading across the globe, a widening divide between rich and poor—and those are just this morning! It doesn’t even take into consideration the ongoing worry about the future of the church—why people are fleeing, why it matters, what will happen to our communities when we close the doors and cut of the lights.
See, I am in need of serious counseling!
The easiest thing would be to just quite reading; to never watch the news; to just not know. After all, ignorance is bliss, right?
But….
It is that old song that I learned in Sunday School, “This is my Father’s world….” It isn’t mine. I, we are called to be good stewards of this gift.
I know people who live in places “over there.” I have a friend in Amman, Jordan; friends in Canada whose families are still caught in Syria; friends in Bali, in England, who are buffeted by changes in the world. What happens to them matters to me.
I need to know so I can not get too comfortable in my little world. I need to know how I can pray, at the very least. I need to know how I might change in little ways that might make a difference in God’s world.
I read as a part of my spiritual discipline.
Now excuse me while I check my news feed!